My family
by Keilfleckbaerbling
Summary: Lisbon and Jane meet with her brother Stan but not everything goes according to plan. / based on spoilers for 7x07
1. Chapter 1

A/N: I know, there are already some stories out there about Jane and Lisbon meeting her brothers (and clearly better ones than mine) but I just couldn't get this idea out of my head without writing it down. This is a two (it turned out it's rather going to be three) chapter long "oneshot" about how I could imagine a meeting between our favourite couple and Lisbon's brother Stan to look like. At least that was the plan...in the end it's mainly about Jane and Lisbon. I have to admit Stan doesn't even appear in person in the first chapter, but that's going to change in chapter two. I hope you like it nevertheless. Constructive criticism is always very much appreciated, especially because english isn't my first language and I'm eager to improve.

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><p>The icy wind hit Jane unprotected as he left the house and for a moment it took his breath away. After spending two years on an almost tropical island and the last few month in Austin, he'd almost forgotten what cold felt like.<p>

He'd just grabbed his and Lisbon's jacket on his way out, without stopping to actually put it on.

He changed that now, slipping into it while following her. She'd just disappeared around a corner and he quickened his pace to not lose her out of sight.

He caught up with her after a few minutes; if only because she'd entered a small park and was now pacing up and down a small gravel path. Jane stopped for a moment and just watched her. She seemed determined, with a fierce expression on her face. Each breathe turning white in the cold Chicago morning air. She didn't even seem to notice the cold; or him for the matter. His grip around her jacket tightened as he approached her.

"Hey." He had to step in front of her to finally make her look up at him. She seemed annoyed that he dared to stop her, but to his surprise she didn't protest as he helped her into her jacket. Before he managed to zip her up though, she started pacing again.

He hadn't seen her this furious in quite a while. Her whole body had seemed to tremble with barely supressed anger as she left the house suddenly a few minutes ago. Stan and his wife both had looked at him, as if they'd expected an explanation. He knew why she'd run but he clearly wasn't going to explain this to her brother, not if he was the reason why she was so upset in the first place. Besides…he must have known it. You couldn't grow up with Lisbon and not noting how she handled emotions.

The anger was just masking deeper feelings, feelings Lisbon didn't want to face herself or worse anyone else to see – not even him.

It was difficult not to fall back into old patterns. They both had spent more than a decade hiding exactly hose kind of feelings, especially from each other. Something like that didn't change that easily; not without some effort. They'd promised each other honesty and more importantly to intervene whenever one of them slipped back into old methods.

Jane saw easily through her anger, almost feeling himself how deeply hurt she was. How betrayed she felt by her brother's lies, by his reluctance to confine in her, to trust her.

Her pain seemed so obvious, literally screamed at him and he couldn't bear it any longer.

"Lisbon!"

She looked at him. Still pacing up and down the road, but at least part of her attention was focused on him.

"He lied to me!", she began without stopping. "He looked me in the eyes and lied to my. My own brother."

Jane didn't interrupt her, just nodded. She needed to get this out before he would even have the slightest change to get through to her.

"What did I ever do to them? I'm here to help! We flew across half the country to help him…to help James. God knows what mess he's in. He might be in real danger and still Stan won't tell me anything."

She finally stood still and run her hands over her face.

"Why won't he let me help?"

Jane knew that there wasn't a right answer to that question, that he could only lose, but he had to try nevertheless.

"I think he simply tries to keep you out of harms way." – "I'm a cop for god's sake! If anyone needs protection it's clearly not me!"

She started pacing again, seemingly to agitated to stand still any longer.

"You may be a cop but in his eyes you're first and foremost his sister." He paused for a moment, but then decided to say it even if she would hate him for it.

"He does trust you, that's not the reason for his lies, Teresa."

She reacted exactly as expected; he'd clearly hit a nerve.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean. Whose side are you actually on?" She snapped at him.

Jane sighed and for the third time that day he blocked her path.

"I'm always on your side, Teresa." He gently grabbed her arms, successfully preventing her from moving away again.

"I just can understand why he would like to keep you out of this. It's not as if I never felt the same in the past."

Lisbon looked at him, slightly confused.

"I know…you're a cop, you can protect yourself, that may be right, but this doesn't mean that other people aren't worrying about you. He's your brother and it's bad enough that one of his siblings is in danger. Can you really resent him for trying to keep you out of it?"

He gently rubbed her arms and he could almost see the tension draining out of her.

"That doesn't make it any better", she murmured and leaned her head against his chest. "Nor does it help James."

"No", he agreed, while pulling her closer.

"Jane?", she asked after a while, without looking up.

"Would you do it again?" - "Would I do what again?"

He knew exactly what she meant.

This time she looked up at him. "Would you lie to me again if you think it would keep me safe?"

Jane took a deep breath. "No, I wouldn't lie. I've learned my lesson. But I would keep things from you, if neccessary."

She tried to step back, clearly annoyed.

"And what's that, if not lying?"

"There's a huge difference! I'll always tell you if I keep something from you, but I can't promise never to do it, not if it could safe your life."

Lisbon shook her head, but she put her hands on his chest and he knew, that she wasn't that angry.

"I'd like to see you try. The moment you admit that there's something you're not telling me, there's no way I would give up before you come clean with it."

Jane chuckled, despite the seriousness of the discussion.

"You may be right. Let's hope we never have to find it out."

She played with the buttons of his coat.

"What are we going to do now?", she asked him and they both knew that she was talking about her brother again.

Jane tried to recall the discussion or rather argument between Lisbon and Stan. He'd been so focused on Lisbon that he'd hardly paid any attention to her brother.

"There something more", he murmured more to himself. In retrospect all seemed very clear. Stan was hiding something else.

"He's ashamed of something." – "Stan?" Lisbon seemed doubtful.

"Yes…he wanted to protect you, for sure…but that's not all. He might be more involved in all of this than he led us believe."

He looked at her. "We should go back. Maybe if you let me speak-." – "And with speak you mean offend or provoke?"

Jane couldn't prevent a grin. "You could put it that way."

He didn't know what he'd expected, but clearly not seeing her smile.

"Actually I kind of like that idea."

Jane raised his eyebrows. "Did I understand you correctly, you just gave me the permission to trick your brother?"

She shrugged. "I don't really see an alternative and even if I hate to admit it, you have quite a high success rate. But don't expect me to step in if he tries to punch you."

They walked in silence back to the house, both deep in thought. Jane was pretty sure though that their thoughts weren't resolving around the same. He sighed as they approached the door and Lisbon looked up at him.

"Changed your mind?"

He shook his head. "No, it's just…", he sighed again, "I kind of hoped to make a good first impression when meeting your brothers."

Her answer was a laugh and Jane almost felt slightly offended.

"What's so funny about that?"

She grinned at him. "I don't know. It just seems so … so normal, I guess. I never thought that you would worry about something like that."

She patted his arm. "If this is of any comfort for you, they'd hated you anyway in the beginning; they're my brothers after all."

"Very helpful, I feel so much better."


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Thanks a lot for the reviews and for reading this. It turned out the whole story will be 3, and no 2 chapters long. So this won't be the last one, one more to follow.

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><p>Lisbon wanted to knock at the door, but Jane took hold of her hand.<p>

„Wait! There are a few things we should discuss first, before we go back in there."

Lisbon turned around to look at him.

„And you couldn't say that before we actually stood in front of the door?"

Jane just shrugged. „Doesn't make a difference, or does it?" He slightly tapped against the dark wooden door. „It's quite a thick door. Unless they're pressing their ears against it, I don't think they'll hear a word. And to be fair, that seems a highly unlikely scenario."

Lisbon just rolled her eyes at him and he took this as an invitation to carry on.

„Do they know about us?", he asked her, already anticipating what her answer would be. He'd realised it the moment they'd entered the house this morning. Neither Stan nor his wife had any idea that he and Teresa were more than working colleagues. Part of him had been offended; hurt by the fact that she still so often hid their relationship, hid him. Part of him had expected nothing else.

Nevertheless he decided to ask her, even if only to force her to say it out loud and to remind her that he wasn't particularly happy about it.

„No." She didn't look at him, clearly aware of how he felt about this.

„I wanted to, but it just...it never really came up and I anyway hardly talked with them since... since then." She was visibly ashamed, playing with her cross, something she did among other things, when she felt guilty.

There were so many other follow up questions he wanted to ask her. Did she tell them about Pike? Did they know that she'd planned to leave Austin, to move to another city for a man?

He took a deep breath. This was not the place, nor the time for this. Lisbon was already tense again. There was more than enough she had to worry about at the moment, without him adding more. They would need to talk about this; sometime, but not today. It had been selfish of him to bring it up at all, but in his defence, he kind of needed to know this.

„It's probably better if we keep it that way, for the moment."

He could literally see the relief on her face, but she still didn't dare to look at him.

„Yeah, might be better if you start insulting him."

Jane took her hand in his to further soothe her and to show her, that he wasn't resentful.

„About the insulting...", he began, „there are certain things we should agree on first. I don't want you to interfere-„

She opened her mouth to say something, but Jane shook his head.

„Let me finish first. I might say some things you won't like; don't take them personal, Teresa. You agreed to do this and you know how I work. I'll try to be nice, but if it doesn't work I might have to mention things that will be painful; not only for Stan."

She just nodded and tightened her grip around his hand. „I understand."

She looked at him with so much trust, that he almost faltered in his intentions. He knew very well that it would be impossible for her not to take it personal…his whole plan actually only worked if she did.

„Good." He tucked a renegade lock of her hair back behind her ear and at the same time pushed all his doubts away. Lisbon wanted answers, and he saw no other way of getting them.

„Let's do this then."

She didn't answer, but instead went on tiptoes and kissed him. It was a soft, tender kiss that nevertheless left him breathless.

He was still gathering his senses as Lisbon opened the door and walked in.

„No knocking?", Jane asked as he followed her, adjusting the collar of his coat.

„Nope." She threw him a glance over her shoulder. „We can cute the politeness already now, if that's what your going to do anyway."

Jane could only grin, sometimes he couldn't believe how much he loved that woman.

Stan and his wife were in the living room, exactly where they'd left them half an hour ago.

"You're back." Stan stood up, seemingly not surprised to see them again. He only looked at Lisbon, completely ignoring him, as he had before.

"I don't think I had the time to properly introduce myself before…", Jane began and immediately noted the annoyance in Stan's glance as he turned towards him. "…before you and Lisbon started discussing."

In fact, he hadn't had the time to say anything at all, nor had Lisbon taken the time for a proper hello. Instead she'd immediately started questioning her brother, not unlike a interrogation. Jane suspected this was another reason for the quick escalation of their "discussion", or rather argument, which was the more appropriate term.

"I'm Patrick Jane, a consultant with the FBI."

Stan didn't seem to recognise his name, or he was very good at hiding it. Which seemed more than unlikely for a Lisbon. His wife on the other hand sat a bit more upright and looked at him curiously. At least at some point over the last decade his name must have been mentioned by Lisbon.

"I'm Stan Lisbon and this is my wife Karen." Despite the circumstances, Stan seemed to cultivate good manners; at least for the moment.

"Now that we've clarified that, let's go on to more important topics."

Stan immediately began to behave defensively. "I've told you before, I know nothing."

Jane sighed.

"Stan…", he looked at him, "can I call you Stan?" Lisbon's brother just nodded, clearly taken aback by Jane.

"Stan, I'm going to make this very short. You're a bad liar. An extremely bad liar, to be precise. Seems to run in the family." He winked at Lisbon, who hadn't sad a word since they'd entered the house. "No offence intended. Actually, as I told Lisbon numerous times, only truly sincere people are such bad liars, so it is kind of a compliment."

"I'm not lying!" Stan made a step towards him, clearly angry now.

"Yes, you are. Everyone can see that."

Stan balled his hand to fists. "You're calling me a liar, in my own house?"

Jane completely ignored his comment.

"The important question here is not whether you're lying, but why?" He looked at Karen.

"Your wife clearly knows why… or she wouldn't stay so calm. And if any stranger can see that you're not telling the truth, so does she."

He turned his attention back to Stan. "So, what are you hiding? Why would you not tell us where to find your brother? After all, we're here to help him. Unless of course", he stroked his chin as if lost in thoughts…" unless of course, you are part of this too. What did you do Stan? Where is the shame coming from that I can sense here. You don't seem like a man easily intimidated or ashamed."

Stan glared at him, but he kept his voice quiet. Jane had enough experience with members of the Lisbon family to know, that this wasn't necessarily a good thing.

"I have no idea what you're talking about." Stan crossed his arms in front of his chest, another unconsciousness attempt to hide the truth. Even if Jane hadn't been sure already, now there wouldn't be any doubt left.

"You're sure?", Jane asked him, "well , maybe we should rather talk with your wife, instead. We could take her to the police station, have a nice chat there."

The longer they'd talked, the more anxious Karen had become. It would be a lot easier to get the truth from her, in fact, Jane was quite sure that she would have talked with them immediately, if not for her husband.

Jane knew that he'd reached the breaking point of Stan the moment he finished the sentence. If Stan had seemed furious before, this was nothing in comparison to now.

"Get out!" He pointed his finger at him. "You're not dragging my wife into this. I want you out of my house, now!"

Jane didn't move, which wasn't easy as Stan came one step closer. He remembered very well that Lisbon told him he'd be on his own if Stan decided to punch him.

"I'm not leaving without answers and I'm not afraid of you, Stan. You, or your wife, are going to talk, whether you like it, or not. The question is, do you want to do it hear, or would you prefer it if we drag you to the next police station. You're blocking our investigation at the moment, which is a crime in itself. I could have you arrested here and now for that."

He hadn't arrested anyone in his life and he doubted very much that Lisbon ever would put her own brother in handcuffs, but he surely wasn't going to tell that Stan.

"You…", Stan made another step towards him and Jane already mentally prepared himself for being punched yet again, when Lisbon finally spoke up.

"Leave him alone, Stan."

Her voice was very calm, but just on the surface. Jane looked at her, for the first time really since they'd entered the house. Her whole body was trembling and she'd clenched her fists, to hide it as much as possible.

"You're defending him?", Stan asked, directing all his hostility towards her.

"You bring him in my house, Teresa. You just stand there and listen, when he talks to me like that."

They way they looked at each other, Jane was actually surprised that they didn't attack each other that instant.

"This is a family matter, Teresa. How could you even come here, with on of your agents?"

Jane thought a second about pointing out that he wasn't actually an agent but the glance Lisbon cast him changed his mind very quickly.

"Jimmy is your brother; I am your brother and you come here, with your fancy new FBI badge and your consultant, treating us like any suspect."

Well, this time he got it right, but for some reason the word consultant sounded more like a course than a job description out of Stan's mouth.

"I'm here to help you, you idiot! I could have let the FBI send someone else here, but instead I convinced my Boss to send me. Would you have preferred that, would you have preferred a stranger interrogating you? Is it that what you want?"

Lisbon's voice was no longer calm, nor the one of her brother.

"What is he, if not a stranger?" Stan shouted back at her. "Send him away and I might change my mind. But this is a family matter and I'm not going to say another word as long as this jerk is in the room. How can you expect me to trust you, if you come here with him?"

For a moment Lisbon looked at him and Jane involuntarily made a step towards her. There was so much pain in her eyes; how could Stan not see how much he hurt her?

"He is _my family_!" She threw back at Stan. "It even seems he's the only family I have left. You don't trust me? Fine, but don't you dare calling me family then."

She might have tried to hide it, but this time the pain was so obvious in her voice, that not even Stan could have missed it.


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: Sorry, that it took me so long to write this chapter. I just had too much to do, together with all the excitment about season 7 airing so soon...I just didn't find the time/motivation to write. I'll finish this with a short epilogue, hopefully before this week is over. Thanks a lot for reading this; that means a lot to me.

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><p>Stan seemed struck for a moment, obviously shocked by her response.<p>

Jane couldn't even remember that he'd moved but he suddenly found himself at Lisbon's side. She looked up at him, her eyes full of unshed tears. She wanted to run again; he saw it as clear as day.

Jane put a hand on her arm and the fact that she let him was only another proof of how hurt she was.

„Let's go", she murmured, not even glancing at her brother. Jane shook his head.

„No", he spoke as softly as she had. „We need answers, remember?"

She took hold of his arm, as if to support herself. It was a small gesture but it filled Jane's heart with warmth. She trusted him; she considered him her family.

„Teresa", Stan finally found his voice again and it had clearly lost it's edge. „I didn't mean what I said, you know?"

Jane could feel Lisbon tense at his words.

„No, I don't know and frankly I don't care. You don't want to help me. Fine! We're going to find Jimmy without you, but I swear Stan, if something happens to him because we're too late...!"

Her voice trembled and she couldn't finish the sentence. She tried to turn around but Jane hold her back. „Wait." He whispered, fighting against the urge to just leave with her. She was uncomfortable and all she wanted was to leave this room, but he wouldn't help her if he let her run away again. At least not in the long run; that's what he told himself but it wasn't easy. It didn't help that he was partly responsible for Stan's reaction, that he actually evoked it. He was the reason for the pain he now saw.

"You don't understand, Teresa …" Both Lisbon and Jane turned around and looked at Stan. His voice almost cracked.

He run his hands over his face, apparently not any better in hiding his feelings than his sister.

"It's all my fault. If I hadn't given him that stupid money", he sighed and sat down at the table, "all of this wouldn't have happened." The way he looked up at Lisbon, he reminded Jane of a young boy; ashamed and terrified that he might have disappointed her.

"I just wanted to fix this without causing any more problems. I don't want you to get hurt,"

"Maybe you should start from the beginning, Stan." It was the first time that Karen spoke since they came back.

Lisbon didn't let go of his arm but Jane could literally see how the tension and anger melted away. He knew the look on her face very well. It was the same expression of compassion she'd showed towards him so often in the past; he hadn't always deserved it. Hell, he still didn't deserve it, or her for the matter.

"Stan, whatever you did or didn't do. I'm sure this wasn't your fault." Lisbon finally released his arm, but Jane was not yet ready to lose contact with her, and moved his hand to her back. She never lost faith in people; never giving them up and always forgiving them for their mistakes.

Stan sighed, his gaze fixed on his hands.

"How about I make us all a nice cup of tea?", Jane suggested, finally letting go of Lisbon, even if he didn't like it. She smiled at him, thankfully. He knew that she needed some time with Stan alone.

Karen seemed to have sensed the same.

"That sound's like a great idea. Why don't I help you." She signalled him to follow her and with a last glance back at Lisbon Jane left the room and closed the door behind him.

The kitchen was small, but very clean and homely. Jane couldn't find a better word to describe it. He saw the kettle the moment he entered the kitchen and was so free to fill it with water and place it on the stove.

"So…", Karen said, looking at him curiously, "you're Patrick Jane."

"Guilty as charged", he said not avoiding her gaze. He pointed with his head towards the door. "I'm sorry for what happened outside. It wasn't nice but I needed them to …" he searched for the right words to describe what he meant, but Karen beat him to it. "You needed them to stop hiding behind excuses and finally tell each other the truth?"

He couldn't prevent a apprehensive nod, "Exactly."

Seeing how much his behaviour hurt his sister had finally fuelled Stan to open up. Honesty was the keyword. Only after Teresa openly and unmasked showed him her feelings, he'd done the same. Jane had expected this; this seemed to be another thing that run in the family. He made that experience himself. Being honest and open about his own feelings was the only reason why he was now standing here; not in these kitchen necessarily, but at Lisbon's side. He and not Marcus Pike.

"We heard a lot about you over the years", Karen said, still looking at him.

"Stan didn't seem to recognise my name", Jane countered her, but she waved her hand to dismiss his words.

"Stan is horrible with names, always has been. If I tell him that you're THAT consultant, he'll now you; believe me."

Do I meet the expectations?", Jane asked asked her, curious to know what Lisbon told them about him.

Karen grinned. "I guess you do. It was always difficult to imagine a single person doing all those things, but now that I've seen you, saw how you worked, it all makes a lot more sense."

She took a teapot out of the cupboard and placed it beside the stove. "She always talked about you, you know", she suddenly said, in a rather quiet voice. Jane didn't say a word, even hold his breath for a moment.

"She never really talked about her boyfriends", Karen continued. "And the few times she mentioned a name…for sure the next time we saw her that man was no longer part of her life."

She looked up at him again.

"But she always talked about her consultant, about you; every single time."

Jane chuckled to mask how moved he truly was by her words. "I guess I gave her a lot to complain about."

Karen laughed. "Yes you did. Honestly, I still can't believe some of the things she told us." She put two teabags into the pot.

"She might have complained a lot, but she always enjoyed talking about you." Jane fixed his gaze on the kettle. He couldn't prevent wondering what else she told them about him; about his past.

"I don't think she realised it, but I've rarely seen her as happy as when she talked about you. She cared about you; a lot. She never said it, but we all could see it — she was devastated after you were gone."

Jane still didn't lift his gaze.

"And now you're back and she followed you to Austin."

There was a unspoken question in Karen's last words.

"Did she…", he started, and then reconsidered his questions, "do you know about my past?"

It wasn't a topic he was keen on talking about. But this was Lisbon's family, they deserved the truth.

Karen nodded, hesitantly. "She never really talked about it, but hey…" she smiled at him wearily, "of course we goggled you. It explained a lot."

A loud whistling noise cut through the silence that followed her words. Jane took the kettle from the stove, glad to gain a few minutes. He poured the water into the teapot.

"We probably should go back and see whether they're both still alive" Karen joked, after a few minutes of awkward silence.

Jane nodded. "That sounds like a great idea." He took the teapot while Karen took four cups. Jane opened the door for her and she'd almost walked past him, when she suddenly turned around and fixed him with a serious gaze.

"Don't hurt her, Patrick."

Jane shook his head, too surprised for answer. She'd already left when he finally found his voice again.

"I won't, never again."

It was late evening and darkness had settled all around Jane. A few snowflakes whirled through the dark sky, only faintly illuminated by the streetlights.

With Stan's help they'd found Jimmy and after a great deal of persuasion from Lisbon and Stan; or more precisely after a great deal of shouting and arguing — he'd given in and told them everything he knew.

Jane'd stepped outside of the police station, which they used as temporary headquarters, for a moment to get some fresh air. It had been a long and loud day; he took a deep breath and embraced the calm.

He didn't turn around as he heard the door being opened, and shortly afterwards closed again. He recognised Lisbon's steps immediately. They hadn't had a moment for themselves since this morning and he half expected her to follow him.

What he clearly hadn't expected was the way she suddenly wrapped her arms around him; holding him fiercely. Such public signs of affection were not really her thing, especially not in front of a police station. Even if it was late, the building behind them was still full of officers and any moment someone could step outside and see them.

"Hey", he put his hands over her's on his chest. "Are you ok?", he asked, slightly worried when she didn't loosen her grip.

He rather felt her nod than that he understood her murmur against his back.

"I'm fine."

He turned around in her embrace, even if it wasn't easy and hugged her likewise.

"Thank you, Jane", she said in a low voice , "for everything you did this morning. I don't think Stan would have told us the truth otherwise."

Jane suddenly couldn't look at her; her eyes were full of trust and love. A sudden wave of guilt rushed through him.

Lisbon chose precisely that moment to poke him lightly in the side. "Don't you think I don't realise what you did there…", she began, "you played me not less than my brother."

Jane still avoided her gaze.

"I'm sorry", he said and he meant it. In the morning he thought there had been no other way of achieving their goal, but now… he wasn't so sure any longer. Maybe there would have been alternatives, maybe he just should have asked her to be honest with Stan…

"Hey!" Lisbon's voice interrupted his thoughts. She framed his face with her hands and forced him to look at her.

"It's ok Jane. I know why you did it." She spoke very softly and brushed her thumbs over his skin.

"I needed this. I would have run away if not for you; thank you." He wanted to believe her, but part of him still felt bad, as if he'd betrayed her. Somehow she must have seen it in his eyes, because she pulled him down to her and kissed him.

"It's ok", she whispered again after they broke their kiss and he buried his face in her hair. Now he was the one holding on to her her very tightly.

"Besides", she said, soothingly running her fingers through his hair, "you did warn me beforehand; sort of."

Jane lifted his head and looked down at her. "Does this mean I'll always be off the hook in the future as long as I give you a warning?"

She poked him in the side again, this time with a bit more force.

"Don't go too far, or I might change my mind and still be angry at you." The smile on her face said something different and Jane finally allowed himself to smile back at her.

"What's up next?", he asked her then, still not stepping back.

"We're going to our hotel and sleep."

He grinned at her, "I probably would have guessed that myself. I rather meant what's going to happen with your brother?"

Lisbon leaned into him and closed her eyes, clearly tired.

"Jimmy is going home", she said, stifling a yawn, "it would be too suspicious if he stays the night at the police station. Unfortunately it's not suspicious that he got arrested in the first place; that's nothing new."

Jane felt her tense up slightly and pulled her closer again.

"You let him out of sight?" – "Not really. The Chicago police will survey him, for his own safety." She sighed and he knew that she wanted to do it herself…but it already cost them a lot of persuasion to be allowed to help the police at all with Lisbon being a relative and all that; she couldn't insist on more.

"And then tomorrow everything will be ready for the trap…", she looked up at him. "Talking of tomorrow. We should really go; you need enough sleep to be ready."

Jane dismissed her words with a wave of his hand. "For a bit of Poker? What do you take me for. I could do that in my sleep. Besides, I'm used to function on only a few hours of sleep; you should know that."

"Jane – that's not a joke! It might be dangerous, I want you fully rested and alert." He heard the worry in her voice and placed a soothing kiss on her forehead.

"It will be alright Lisbon, trust me. You and half the police of Chicago will be in the building; Jimmy and I couldn't be safer than at that Poker table."

"I hope you're right." She said and stepped back. Jane shivered involuntarily in the cold, now that he lost contact to her warm body.

That's probably why he didn't protest as she ushered him inside to collect their things. Maybe it was time to get back to their hotel, if only to make her feel better.


End file.
